Yahoo Finance Goldman Sachs to move $60bn in assets from UK to Germany
Goldman Sachs is planning to move up to $60bn (£46bn) worth of assets out of the UK and into Germany due to Brexit as it becomes the latest banking giant to make such a move.
With less than two months to go before the transition period ends, big banks are ramping up their plans to move assets out of the UK and onto the continent.
After Dec 31 the City will be stripped of its EU passporting rights, which give full access to EU markets.
Goldman, which has previously warned that a “difficult” Brexit would negatively affect its investment plans in the UK, will shift between $40bn to $60bn into its subsidiary in Frankfurt, sources said.
Bloomberg, which first reported on the move, said the bank could shift even more assets over time if its continental business grows. The move will be a major boost to Frankfurt, where Goldman's subsidiary had just $3.6bn worth of assets at the end of last year.
The financial services sector has been a key battleground ever since the Brexit vote, with rival EU cities such as Paris and Frankfurt ramping up efforts to attract bankers from the City amid the back and forth.
The Wall Street lender is not the first bank to move billions worth of assets to rival EU cities as banks across the UK prepare to lose passporting.
Goldman's closest rival JP Morgan is planning to shift around $230bn worth of assets from the UK to Frankfurt before the end of this year, according to reports, while Barclays last year triggered plans to shift £166bn (€190bn) into its Irish subsidiary, meaning the transferred business will be conducted by the bank's Irish division after December 31.
